Job Hunted Without Cause

The LORD is righteous (Tzadiq); for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

AV Lamentations 1:18 (Tzaddi)

They hunt (tzud) our steps (tza'ad), that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

AV Lamentations 4:18 (Tzaddi)

Mine enemies chased me sore (tzud tzaduni), like a bird, without cause.

AV Lamentations 3:52 (Tzaddi)

Thou huntest (tzud) me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me. Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!

Job 10:16ff (Spke 18, Cycle 1)

The three verses above are from the Alphabetic Verses of Lamentations corresponding to the eighteenth letter Tzaddi. The Book of Lamentations is structured most wonderfully upon the pattern of the Hebrew Alphabet. Its chapters have a perfectly symmetric pattern of 22–22–66–22–22 verses. The first, second, and fourth chapters have one verse for each letter. The fifth chapter is not alphabetic, but it has 22 verses to complete the perfect symmetry. The third chapter has 3 consecutive verses for each letter, and so it has 66 verses. In this chapter, the indices of the three verses corresponding to the n^th letter are given by index = a . 3 x (n - 1), where a = 1, 2, or 3. Thus we see that AV Lamentations 3:52 quoted above is the first Tzaddi verse because 52 = 1 . 3 x (18 - 1).

The suffering that Jeremiah recorded here in Lamentations concerns the fulfillment of the Lord's Judgment upon sinful Jerusalem when He used the Babylonian army to destroy it and drive His people out of the Holy Land. Jeremiah explained the reason for their suffering and its relation to the righteousness of God with perfect clarity when he wrote "The LORD is righteous (Tzadiq); for I have rebelled against his commandment." But this was an unusual situation. Most suffering in this world is not nearly so clearly related to our own sin or lack of righteous, which should be clear by the struggles Job had when he tried to understand the problem of evil and suffering in his theodicy. These themes are the basis of the Divine integration of Job with the Spoke 18 and the meaning of Tzaddi as the symbol of righteousness.

The eighteenth book begins with God's presentation of Job as an example of a righteous man to Satan, who challenged Job's righteousness as being based on self-interest:

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

Job 1:8-11 (Spoke 18, Cycle 1)

Though Satan destroyed Job's wealth and family, "he sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" and so passed the test. God then presented his evidence to Satan:

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

Job 2:2ff (Spoke 18, Cycle 1)

The phrase "without cause" is the Chet KeyWord chinnam which most generally means "free" or "without cost" or "for nothing." This is how it is used in Job 1:9 above when Satan asked the Lord "Doth Job fear God for nought (chinnam)?" It also is the word used in the Tzaddi verse of AV Lam 3:52:

• AV Lam 3:52 Tzaddi: Mine enemies (oyev) chased me sore, like a bird, without cause (chinnam).

The reference to "enemies" forms another link to Job whose name is from the root ayav (S# H0340) which means "to treat as an enemy" or "to be hostile to." His name describes how he felt as God allowed Satan to hunt his soul for the source of his righteousness. Job made his feelings perfectly clear:

• Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
• Job 33:10 Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy.

In both of these verses, the word translated as "enemy" is spelt with the same four letters as "Job", differing only in the placement of the vowel-like Vav as shown in the table. Both are based on the tri-literal root ayab (enemy). The words are obviously intended as a pun, which also is a very common in biblical teachings and prophecies.

A third link to Job is found in the Tzaddi KeyWord tzud (hunted, chased) used in AV Lamentations 3:52 and 4:18. This word also describes how Job felt as a seeming "enemy of God":

If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; For it increaseth. Thou huntest (tzud) me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me. Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!

Job 10:15ff (Spoke 18, cycle 1)

We have now three elements from the Tzaddi verse of AV Lamentations 3:52 that link directly to the Book of Job:

1. Mine enemies ... reference to Job's name,
2. ... chased me sore ... reference to Job's testing,
3. ... without cause (chinnam) ... reference to the exact word God used to describe His action towards Job.

Now we ask a simple question: How many books in the Bible are selected by these three elements? If we took a survey of seminary graduate students and asked them to name the book that focuses on a righteous man associated with the word "enemy" who is "chased" by afflictions from God "without cause" how many would fail to identify the Book of Job?

But we don't need to take an opinion poll. Both Alphabetic Verses that use tzud are uniquely linked to the Book of Job. The word "tzud" appears in only 15 verses of the Bible. A quick review of them shows that tzud is used in only three of those verses by the writer to describe himself as the target of the hunt. These three verses are AV Lametnations 3:52, 4:18, and Job 10:16. We have therefore a double Alphabetic KeyLink:

	Double Spoke 18 Alphabetic KeyLink Job Hunted without Cause
	AV Lamentations 3:52, 4:18Job (Spoke 18, Cycle 1)

There are many other links amongst these verses. One of the most interesting comes from the distribution of the words tzud (hunt), chinnam (without cause), and ayav (enemy). We can use the most excellent Bible Works 7  software to do a context search with a Strongs number search string of the form .06679 02600 0341;m, where m is the size of the context, counted in verses. When m = 1, all the words must be in the same verse. This search selects only AV Lam 3:52. The first increase comes when we reach m = 32, in which case the search also selects AV Lam 4:18. The next increase comes when m = 75, in which case the search returns these three passages from Job:

• For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause (chinnam). Job 9:17
• ... Thou huntest (tzud) me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. Job 10:16
• Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy (oyev)? Job 13:24

Note that I exectuted this search after writing the portion of the article above that referenced these three verses. It all seems so easy. Everything reinforces and confirms everything else. The next increase comes when we reach m = 115. The Book of Job therefore is confirmed to be the most closely linked book to AV Lamentations 3:52 and AV Lamentations 4:18.

Related Article: Table of Alphabetic KeyLinks

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